o the dean and chapter of Dromore", confirmed the decision
of the Archbishop of Armagh, and sanctioned the right of the canons of
Dromore to elect the bishops of the see (_Mon. Vatic._, pag. 42).
Andrew, archdeacon of Dromore, was accordingly elected bishop, and
consecrated in 1245, and the episcopal succession continued
uninterrupted till the latter half of the fifteenth century.

Ware, in his _Bishops_ of this see, and Dr. Reeves, in his
_Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down and Connor_ (pag. 308), tell us that
on the death of the Carmelite bishop, _David of Chirbury_, in 1427, the
see was held by Thomas Scrope, who resigned before 1440; that his
successor, Thomas Radcliffe, also resigned before 1461; that the next
bishop was George Brann, appointed about 1487; and that the see was held
in 1500 by another bishop named William Egremond.

The actual succession of bishops, however, was far different. On the
death of David of Chirbury, Dr. Thomas Radcliffe was chosen his
successor in 1429, as the historians of the Augustinian order expressly
attest. Thus, for example, Herrera writes:

"Thomas Sacrae Theologia professor a Martino V. in Registro
Pontificio an. xii. Pontificatus et Christi 1429. prid. Kal.
Feb. in Hibernia sub Archiepo. Armacano Epus. Dromorensis
instituitur. Hic est ille quem registra ordinis die 19
Martii an. 1426. magistrum Thomam Radclef provinciae Angliae
appellant eique Prior Generalis concedit ut in conventu
Oxoniensi perpetuo stare possit ut eum fratribus destitutum
juvet".

Elsius makes a similar statement (_Encomiast._ page 662), and also tells
us that there is a "Thomas Radclyf, Redcliff, sive Radcliffus, Anglus,
S.T.D., in Anglia natus nobilissima familia ex qua comites Sussessiae
ante an. 1369, prodierunt", who is commended in the records of the order
as illustrious by his virtues and writings. "Intuitu virtutum", he adds,
"Episcopalem Lincolniensem aut Leicestrensem accepit dignitates", which
words acquaint us with the English see to which Dr. Radcliffe was
promoted some few years after his appointment to Dromore.

As the dates of Herrera are taken from the consistorial records and
other official documents, we may rest assured that 1429 was the year of
Dr. Radcliffe's appointment. We cannot fix with the same certainty the
year in which he renounced this see. It is probable, however, that about
1434 he was translated to the diocese of Lincoln in England